Live With Cricket

The opening one-day international at the Wanderers was under severe threat after continued heavy rain in Johannesburg led to a delayed start. The umpires will inspect at 3pm (1300GMT) but the weather has been dire for the last three days and conditions don't look promising.

Yesterday, England were forced to train indoors - including the use of a covered car park for fielding practice - and an hour before the scheduled start they hadn't left their team hotel in Sandton. However, although a washout would be a disappointing way to start the series it would at least give the England players carrying injuries a couple of extra days to recover.

Paul Collingwood, who will become England's most capped ODI player if the match begins, and James Anderson are both expected to be available should play get underway, but their back and knee niggles respectively would benefit from a little more time. England have been hit by a list of injuries at the start of this trip with both Stuart Broad (shoulder) and Graeme Swann (side) ruled out of the opening two matches, leading to call-ups for Liam Plunkett and James Tredwell.

South Africa showed what they expect from conditions by omitting their spinners, Johan Botha and Roelof van der Merwe, from a 12-man squad. Wayne Parnell, the left-arm quick, is still recovering from an ankle injury while Hashim Amla also missed out.